Talk:What It's Like/@comment-11342320-20140313020202
This is what Kary the Degrassi Blogger had to say about yesterday's episode Unbelievable. It happens to other people. You say “How sad.” You say “Poor thing.” But when it’s you it’s something else; it’s everything. Paige Michalchuk sang those lyrics after being raped in the season 2 episode, “Shout.” It’s amazing how relevant those words are to this day, over eleven years later as another Degrassi character is sexually assaulted. “Unbelievable” is an accurate title for this episode. It’s unbelievable that people at Degrassi blame Zoë for what happened to her at the party. It’s unbelievable that no one really seemed concerned with Zoë’s well being. It’s unbelievable how disturbingly realistic Degrassi was able to portray these two attributes. Degrassi hammered two major themes throughout this one-hour episode: “blaming the victim” and the sheer nature of humans to be indifferent toward a situation that doesn’t affect them directly. Once the pep rally is canceled, rumors begin flying that Zoë is to blame. They say she slept with guys at the party, regretted it, then cried rape. Students didn’t question it; nearly all of them had no desire to investigate. It was accepted as fact, while the truth was lost in the shuffle of people upset because a fun school event was canceled. It’s weird watching that unfold in this episode, because that mentality perfectly describes how people behave regularly on social media nowadays. Even if on a less-serious scale, every single day random rumors or half truths pop up. No one cares enough to do any research on their own, but everyone cares enough to react instantly and harshly, then go about their day as if nothing happened or no one was hurt. While the general student body blames Zoë for something that’s not (and never will be) her fault, Degrassi’s main characters simply trivialize the situation. “Why do you even care? You barely know Zoë,” Imogen says as she, Drew and Becky continue investigating Zoë’s assault, even after the police get involved. Becky is determined to figure out the identities of the two boys, but before that point her primary motivation was to uncover a hard-hitting story so she could be taken seriously as a journalist. Miles is so consumed with getting Maya back that he doesn’t even try to hide his indifference. “Do you know what it’s like not knowing what happened to you?” Zoë says. “Not knowing if someone touched you?” “Yeah I can’t imagine, but it’s not my fault,” Miles replies. In another intense scene the student council discusses whether or not to have the pep rally because evidence points to guys on the basketball team being involved. While Dallas and Drew support the team, Clare is adamant in standing up for Zoë. “It wasn’t just two guys Drew; everyone at this party let this happen, you let this happen,” Clare says. The progression of characters coming around and finally understanding the gravity of the situation is slow, but watching the characters moving at different paces toward this is amazing. They finally reach that point we shouldn’t hesitate to reach, rallying around those who need help instead of showing indifference toward their plight because it doesn’t hit close to home.